This talk will discuss two projects that have recently started, funded by the ESRC Cognitive Engineering Initiative, in which empirical studies of expert designers are informing the design of computer-based tools to support the design process.
The first project focusses upon supporting innovative design. Designers in industrial and commercial contexts have to balance a desire for innovation against constraints of limited resources. Re-use of ideas and solutions from previous projects can cut costs and design time; also innovative ideas that were ahead of their time can be reconsidered as circumstances change. However, inappropriate re-use can actively stifle innovative design. This project aims to investigate re-use in highly innovative design environments, and to develop tools to support this process. The research will collect empirical data concerning the ways in which information is re-used by expert designers working on major engineering and commercial projects. This will enable the identification of effective methods for non-invasive recording of information for later re-use, and for guiding the retrieval of relevant re-use information at the most appropriate time. These methods will be incorportated into a computer-based tool for indexing design information which employs 'indexing agents', that is, semi-autonomous programs that monitor a designer's activities and intervene to assist in recording and retrieving re-use information.
The second project focusses upon supporting the design of tasks for instruction and assessment, using Maths and English as a Second Language as exemplar domains. In the face of tremendous changes in Britain's educational system, we aim to improve the quality of teaching and assessment in schools by helping educators consolidate or enhance their expertise in task design. A series of studies are being carried out to examine the nature of task evaluation skills and also to invetsigate the process of task design and re-design by specialists and non-specialists. These studies will inform the development of computer-based task design guides that provide class teachers with examples of expertly devised tasks and assessments as well as guidance on producing their own tasks. In Maths one approach will show teachers how to take the subject out of the classroom and into the real world, empowering pupils to understand complex, number-based issues such as environmental threats, health and social policies. For EFL teachers the Task Design Guide will provide situations that provoke communication and self expression in meaningful contexts.